Monday, August 27, 2012

The Horrible vs. The Miserable

The Mets set a new low for putrid play during their series last week against the Colorados, and they were dangerously close to surpassing that over the weekend against the even worse Houston Astros, the Mets Expansion Brethren making their last visit to New York as a National League team. That's how bad it's been for the Astros. Not only are they in the midst of a season to rival the 1985 Pittsburgh Pirates, they're suffering the indignity of being shipped to the A.L. in an asinine scheduling shift that only the diabolical mind of Bud Selig could have concocted.

But I digress. We're here to talk about the Mets, who managed 6 runs in 4 games against the worst pitching staff in Baseball, and followed that up by mustering all of 6 runs in 3 games against the worst team in Baseball, period. But, one of the fortuitous things about playing the worst team in baseball is that, inevitably, they'll manage to screw up even worse than the Mets. So, somehow, the Mets eked out 3 runs on Saturday and won, and then Ike Davis' 2 solo Home Runs on Sunday were amazingly enough to get the job done as well.

It did, of course, get worse before it got better. Friday night, Jonathon Niese pitched admirably well, only allowing 3 runs, but given that 3 runs has been a tall order for the Mets of late, he was screwed. I caught the tail end of the game, and as soon as I saw the 3-1 score, I knew that the Mets weren't going to win the game. I couldn't even tell you who drove in those Astros runs, or who might have been pitching for them (although I did catch a Fernando Martinez sighting, I see he's done very well for himself since being cut by the Mets). The audience appeared to be asleep, since I would have expected mass booing and jeering from the outset, although most of the people must have either left or didn't feel like wasting the energy. This loss dropped the Mets to 0-4 against the Astros (similarly, they struggled against the '85 Pirates, winning only 10 of 18 against a 104-loss team). Suffice it to say, there weren't any words worth writing then, although I bandied about writing a "Fire Terry" blog before sleep got the better of me.

Saturday, I didn't see any of the game, as I was out most of the day, and a Mets/Astros game at this point wasn't high on my list of priorities. R.A. Dickey was on the mound, once again looking for his 16th win of the season, and at the rate he was going, he would have to go back to throwing 1-hitters every time out in order to get that 16th win. A decent crowd of 29,000 apparently showed up for this one, but I suspect the lure of Mike Piazza Bobbleheads was a greater attraction than having to watch the game. I got a buzz on my phone late in the day with the final score, a 3-1 Mets victory. I had to do a double take, because for one, I'd forgotten the Mets were even playing, and for two, they scored 3 runs! And not only that, two of them came via a Justin Turner Home Run, and a Jason Bay RBI. When things like that start happening, you'd better win, because who wants to waste gems like that? And, win they did.

And, of course, I was out Sunday as well, and didn't see the Ike Davis show, who provided the necessary offense while the rest of the team apparently ran in circles like Electric Football players. And, again, amazingly, 2 runs was enough to win the Mets a game.

So, what does that mean? It means that now that the Mets are going back to playing a real team like Philly this week, they may have some problems. A weekend in Mickey Mouse Marlins land may mean fewer problems, but still, cause for concern. If you care anymore, that is.